Car boot sellers are in the main a friendly bunch and I have met thousands over the years.
However I was once at a city market boot sale, where I met the exception. My friend Wotan was with me and as we ambled happily around the stalls we came across a large black bin bag of tat, knelt down and started to rummage.
The first salvo of utter rudeness from the seller, who was smiling at us with her grinning chum, was when I pulled out a small modern Zero-X bagatelle, like a plastic party favour. Showing it the seller I as per normal asked the price. Unbelievably she took it out of my hand and said - it wasn't for sale!
Stunned by these bad manners I buried myself in the bag again along with Wotan - it was a big sack - where we continued to move tat around.
It was this point that the seller delivered her coup de grace and said to us " Keep looking you two, you might even find a sense of humour in there!" to which she and her associate burst into laughter.
I wasn't laughing. This was a local sale and Wotan was my guest. I was appalled at this yobbish behaviour and we swiftly left seething at this unusual car boot sarcasm.
Have you had a similar experience readers?
I doubt those two sold very much that day. It is not just at car boot sales, some shops and companies simply do not seem to want customers, and view them as a nuisance, to be discouraged and gotten rid of as quickly as possible. Just walk away, and let them try to survive with no customers at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree Paul, useless customer service even for a car boot!
DeleteThis was a salient moment in my long relationship with Woodsy. Knowing him to be the most generous, amiable and friendly guy ever, faced with this harridans outburst he became a completely different person! As we were rooting in the bag, the fishwife remarked that another collector had scoured the bag already for 'Hornby' toys - which I wasn't concerned about. there was however quite a bit of Dinosaur lego in the bag and just a second or two before Woody found the infamous bagatelle, I was about to make an offer on the whole bag of crap. There was nothing at all of any great value, but she had clearly seen a few people nosing about and was upset that nobody was offering her huge wads of cash for the tat she had found in a drawer somewhere. Up to this point, we had been laughing and joking, but our hushed comments about the bagatelle clearly annoyed her. After her outburst, Woodsy turned and stormed off, steam coming out of his ears and a face like thunder. Even I was scared! It was the first time in all theyear i had known him, that I saw him get mad - but give him his due, he didn't give her the satisfaction of seeing the effect it had on him! a definite eeyore moment!
ReplyDeleteha ha, car boot rage! It doesn't happen often!
DeleteThat is one strange story, although I believe every word of it. I think some folks actually try to lure people to them, just in order to be mean. I think that qualifies as classic sociopath behavior. I would have had difficulty keeping my cool, as well, and that's what sociopaths want - to trigger some sort of response or confrontation. So you did good in storming off and not giving her the satisfaction of seeing someone suffer.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of one of my most vivid memories of the late 1960s, and one of the weirdest "retail stores" I ever encountered. It's too convoluted to go into here, but if I can gather my wits, I might write up my memories and send them along to Woodsy. I think Moonbase readers might like it, as it involves several products of discussion here: Multiple Toymakers' Golden Astronauts series, Japanese Robot Toys, and Paramount Hobbies model kits! The "proprietors" of this "retail store" weren't mean per se, but let us just say that selling toys to kids was not the first thing on their minds...
Sounds intriguing Zigg, do tell!
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